Dear All,
this is my first topic in this forum, so I shortly introduce myself to you.
I am an Italian 48yo man, living in the west side of Sicily Island (even if I am most of the time abroad because of my job).
Since I was 16yo I have been using kayak at sea, initially just for surfing and trekking, later I started fishing too.
Some months ago I decided to update my old kayak with a new one, at the beginning I was interested in taking a Pedal Hobie Kayak, such as Revolution or outback, but after a long thinking I decide to buy a second hand Hobie Adventure Island.
I am still waiting the day I will launch it at sea for the first time (maybe next month), but in the meantime I am collecting information regarding the safety and security equipment to be held during sailing trips, and expecially the law limitations regarding the maximum distance that an AI/TI can reach from the coast.
I found out that the issue is not clearly specified by the Italian law, probably because of the special craft they are.
I try to summarize what is my current concern:
According to the European Craft Construction Directive, the AI/TI must be munufactured following the specifications included in the following EC directive:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:354:0090:0131:EN:PDF According to this, Hobie Europe provides a sort of conformity declaration (see example
http://www.mondokayakfishing.it/forum/download/file.php?id=5889), where it is specified that the Hobie AI/Ti is manifactured according to the "D Category" (please have a look to the previous directive at page 37 Annex 1).
The Italian law specifies that the craft that are compliant with D category are very limited in navigation:
this
http://www.fog.it/legislaz/l-05-0171-a2.htm is the link where you can read the Italian law limitation for D Category.
I provide an English translation of the "D Category Limitations":
Italian: D. In acque protette: progettate per crociere in acque costiere riparate, in piccole baie, laghi, fiumi e canali, in cui la forza del vento può essere pari a 4 e l'altezza significativa delle onde può raggiungere 0,3 m, con onde occasionali di altezza massima pari a 0,5 m, ad esempio a causa di imbarcazioni di passaggio.
EnglishD. In protected water areas: designed for protected coastal water areas cruise, small bays, lakes, rivers and channels, where the wind strenght cannot be more than 4 (Beaufort Scale) and the waves height cannot exceed 0,3 meter, with occasional wave height of 0.5 meters, caused by crossing boats.
Can you please help me understanding if my analysis is correct?, and additionally can you please share the rules and limitations can be applied to Hobie AI/TI in your countries?
Thank you very much, and sorry for the long boring post.